God As Who Understands Him?

The word God is commonly held to mean ‘the one Supreme Being, the creator and ruler of the universe’ (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/god).

Alcoholics Anonymous uses the terms God, Higher Power and Power Greater than Ourselves interchangeably, with belief claimed to be an essential element of the Program.

Step 2: Came to believe that a Power Greater than Ourselves could restore us to sanity.

However, AA also claims that the reader can choose of their own conception of God.

Step 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God.  ‘ – Alcoholics Anonymous, p

Much to our relief, we discovered we did not need to consider another’s conception of God.  Our own conception, however inadequate, was sufficient to make the approach and to effect a contact with Him. – Alcoholics Anonymous, p

But, there are constraints on what form that conception may take.

New members are advised that a Higher Power could be any number of things, including:

1.   Group of Drunks

2.   Sponsor

3.   Mother Nature

4.   Doorknob

These proposed conceptions of God shall be subjected to the necessary constraints identified within the basic text.

1.   God must be a God

‘As soon as we admitted the possible existence of a Creative Intelligence, a Spirit of the Universe underlying the totality of things, we began to be possessed of a new sense of power and direction, provided we took other simple steps.’ – Alcoholics Anonymous, p46

The first constraint is a primary: failure to meet the primary constraint invalidates the conception of God and prohibits further consideration.

Each of the proposed conceptions of God fails to meet the first constraint.

2.   God must be able to accomplish acts

Step 2: Came to believe that a Power Greater than Ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Step 6: Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Step 7: Humble asked him to remove our shortcomings.

‘This Power has in each case accomplished the miraculous, the humanly impossible.’ – Alcoholics Anonymous, p51

Whilst the first three proposed conceptions of God may meet the second constraint, they are invalidated by failure to meet the primary constraint and prohibited from further consideration.

The fourth conception of God fails to meet the second constraint.

3.   God must be contactable

Step 5: Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Step 11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

‘At the start, this was all we needed to commence spiritual growth, to effect our first conscious relation with God as we understood Him.’  – Alcoholics Anonymous, p47

Whilst the first and second conceptions of God are contactable, they are invalidated by failure to meet the primary constraint and prohibited from further consideration.

The third and fourth conceptions of God fail to meet the third constraint.